Has anyone used the Nikon Prostaff Spotting scopes that are on sale right now? If so, are they worth $500? Thanks!!!

shootbrownelk

08-21-2013, 04:01 PM

I've had a Nikon XL II spotter and I love mine. Nikon makes a good product. I don't know about the Prostaff model, I paid over $500.00 for mine years ago. No complaints with it, my Nikon Binoculars or 3 Nikon riflescopes.

clacklin009

08-21-2013, 11:46 PM

The Nikon Prostaff is good. I'm assuming you are thinking about the 80mm scope ($500) and I think it is the best for the money. They are light weight. I think they improved over the old Prostaff model in the light disbursement. They seem to have been able to spread the light across the FOV so the center and edges have the same amount of light. At high magnifications many scopes will be quite dark across the whole lens but the edges are rally bad and the center has a little more light. I feel the Prostaff has an even transfer of light across the whole lens. One feature some people would like that the Prostaff doesn't have is the ability to rotate the body so the eyepiece can be angled to the side.

JEandAsGuide

08-22-2013, 03:37 AM

I have the Prostaff 80mm but haven't had the opportunity to use it in the field yet. Only around the house. It's bigger than I wanted so I will probably get the vortex razor 65mm for my backpack hunt next year. The prostaff will be fine for my antelope hunt this year.

jarheadhunter

08-22-2013, 09:16 AM

My buddy had one on a hunt last year the eyepiece busted off after a ride on the 4 wheeler while still in the case. I looked through it and wasn't impressed. That was before the accident. I would put the money towards a Vortex if that's what you can spend. Go somewhere and look through both of them you will see the difference.

NDHunter

08-22-2013, 02:28 PM

I bought one of the older models last year. I think it was $300 on sale or something. For the price, I think it is ok. It definitely isn't super clear but for that price, I think it is about as good as a guy can get.

I don't personally know about the new model this year though and I assume that you are talking about the ones on sale at Cabelas now? For the same amount of money, I'd be curious to know how it stands up against the Vortex Diamondback. Seems like everyone has good things to say about Vortex. So in the end, I don't know if $500 is worth it for the new Nikon.

Feel free to thank me for not helping at all!!

JNDEER

08-24-2013, 01:38 PM

for that price you can almost pick up a discountinued ED 60 which is far superior to that model.

NDHunter

08-26-2013, 08:16 AM

Maybe take a look at this???? Anybody have a good opinion about this spotter? Seems like a good deal...

Cabelas and a few others have limited amounts of these in stock. This spotter you are referring to is actually discontinued as of a couple months ago. I typically prefer/suggest hd glass if you plan to digiscope much. Most do. If not its a screamin deal on a good optic. Although I haven't asked vortex what they would replace it with given it had to be sent in for warranty work and worst case scenario irreparable.